4g61t.org

The car is almost taken apart completely. The interior is bare and the engine will be pulled soon.

What areas can/should I seam weld so that the chassis is stiffer?

In the interior?

In the engine bay?

Anywhere that I could add plates or support for more strength?



We are going to cage it later in the year. That will stiffen up the strut towers and some other places but we have everything tore down right now

I'd look where the control arms bolt to the body, i've heard of some cars splitting the seams there. Maybe look around the steering rack, and engine mounts.

The whole engine bay, control arm mounts as mentioned and even bracing the control arm mounts as well - search rallyguy or my posts with his name in the description window.
Oh, found it: http://www.roadraceengineering.com/4g61t/burns/
That chassis or a twin that Chris built is still kicking around, I think it was CrunchyMilk that bought it.
Seam welding the floor along the door/floor sill area and of course the rear shock towers will do wonders I am sure.
The cage alone will strengthen the car, but with the seam welding it will be that much more robust.

What kind of racing will the car see?

The worse kind of racing,

Stage Rally, this car is not going to see much mercy. In fact I don't think it has ever seen much mercy.

I have seen Rallyguy pictures. I am going to look over them again and take notes. It is the only Mirage rally car that I know of i can use as an example. His was a clean car. Mine isn't bad but it isn't a clean shell

Here is the link for his stripped car. If anyone wants they can look in there and circle places i should weld. That would be greatly helpful. I will be doing that later. This is what the car pretty much look like right now.
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/4g61 ... ipped_car/

I don't have the budget that Rallyguy had. I am sticking to a low budget in the event that i roll the car. Cage will be properly built though

There are plenty of stock parts from DSMs that are going to be an upgrade for this car. However we have everything apart now and seem welding is just cheep insurance. The team that is helping us drives a Hyundai Tiburon I don't think their car was seam welded and I think now they wish they had.

I will post pictures up when I start. People can probably give advice as i go on

So the rear strut towers, should I weld the seam weld where the curved sheet metal that goes around the struts connects to the flat sheet metal along the body? and down were the frame is?



And the lower control arms braces, i am guessing welding is needed on all of those seams, by the frame, by the fire wall, by the triangle that looks like a brace



It looks like they added a brace in this picture



And a brace on that side



Seam welded all of those spots




Another picture of control arm brace


That will be a start for me

Yup, stage rally is rough on the chassis. Even with seam welding you will have cracks form over time.

Personally I would also make braces/plates welded in the fender area from the door hinges to the strut towers area to beef it up on the outer part of the front clip to reduce any flex. Also tube bracing is structurally better with welding in gussets, as many as you possibly can inbetween the angles.

_________________
-1988 Dodge Colt Hatchback - G15b w/ KM200
-1998 Neon R/T Coupe Hahn Stage II
-2014 Subaru BRZ Limited

Seam welding will help but in the end you'll just have 20lbs of weld added to the car. Weld in a plate on top of the struts to help reinforce them, then tie them together to the firewall and from the other side (in cabin), tie that point to the cage and tie the cage to the rear strut towers. You could try notching the floor and tying the front/rear subframes together with some thick box stock too.

_________________
Had a:
1991 Eagle Summit ES Hatchback - 4g15 12v 5spd
1991 Dodge Colt -4g15 12v 4spd
Have a:
1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass - 468BBO TH350
Round 3:
1990 Dodge Colt-4G63T 5spd